Dragon Age | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Genre(s) | Role-playing |
Developer(s) | BioWare EA2D Edge of Reality TransGaming Capital Games Failbetter Games |
Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
Creator(s) | David Gaider and BioWare |
Platform(s) | |
First release | Dragon Age: Origins November 3, 2009 |
Latest release | Dragon Age: Inquisition November 18, 2014 |
Dragon Age is a media franchise centered on a series of fantasy role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The franchise takes place on the fictional continent Thedas, and follows the experiences of its various inhabitants.
The first game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins , follows the story of a recent recruit to a legendary order of warriors known as the Grey Wardens. Their mission is to save the kingdom of Ferelden from being overrun by the Darkspawn, a monstrous race of subterranean-dwelling beings who swarm the surface world every few hundred years in a movement known as a Blight. A Blight begins when the darkspawn track down and awaken an Archdemon, a powerful dragon that controls the Darkspawn hordes. Its sequel Dragon Age II is centered around the eldest child of the Hawke family, a Blight refugee who moves their family to their mother's home city of Kirkwall in The Free Marches. There, over the course of approximately seven years, they begin as a criminal and work their way up the city's power structure to eventually become the Champion of Kirkwall. As such, in the midst of crisis and political unrest, they go on to help make decisions that influence all of Thedas. A third installment, Dragon Age: Inquisition centers on the Inquisition, an organization tasked with restoring peace and order to Thedas, which is suffering from multiple wars and being ravaged by a demonic invasion from beyond the mortal realm over a decade after the events of the first game. The Herald of Andraste, who later becomes the Inquisitor, is the only individual who can seal the rifts that bring demons to Thedas, due to a mysterious magical mark on their hand. They also help to bring peace to the political landscape. All three main series games have been joined by a variety of expansions and downloadable content (DLC) add-ons. A fourth installment, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly Dragon Age Dreadwolf), is currently under development with a scheduled release in 2024.
The main series games have all met with commercial success as well as mostly positive acclaim for its narrative, universe lore, character development, voice acting, and emphasis on player choices affecting the experience. In addition to video games, the franchise has expanded to other media and now spans multiple spin-off games, novels, graphic novels and comic books, webseries, an anime film and an animated television series, as well as other licensed products and merchandise.
The Dragon Age franchise is set in the world of Thedas (an acronym for TheDragon Age Setting), with events from the main series games taking place primarily in its southern regions. Thedas is the only continent of the known world and consists of various clans, nations and states inhabited by multiple humanoid peoples. Several kingdoms and countries have emerged over nine centuries of a calendar era based on the traditionally reckoned year of the founding of The Chantry, the dominant religious organization in the Dragon Age series, and each century is referred to as a separate "Age". [1] [2] Three out of several human nations play a prominent role in the series: the kingdom of Ferelden to the southeast of Thedas, which is politically organized in a similar manner to the English peerage system; the Orlesian Empire to the west of Ferelden, where its nobility is notorious for undermining each other with intrigue and subterfuge in their jostling for favor and patronage with its absolutist ruler; and the Tevinter Imperium in the northern region of Thedas, which once subjugated southern Thedas during ancient times, and is governed by a powerful oligarchy of magic-wielding magisters led by an Imperial Archon. [1] Other noteworthy civilizations explored in the main series games include the Free Marches, a human-dominated confederation of politically independent territorial entities to the north of Ferelden, and the Kingdom of Orzammar, one of the few remaining dwarven city states scattered throughout the Deep Roads, an underground highway system beneath the surface of Thedas created by the dwarves millennia ago. [1]
Race, class, and heritage combine to determine social class and political dynamics in Thedas. A recurring theme in the series consists of power struggles and internal conflicts play out between and within various factions. [1] Tevinter society practices slavery, which is outlawed and stigmatized in other human societies. Human nobility are treated with deference and respect across Thedas, whereas elves are often viewed as second-class citizens who live within overpopulated ghettos in human cities called alienages, or kept as slaves in the Tevinter Imperium. A significant portion of the elven population of Thedas call themselves the Dalish after the Dales region in eastern Orlais where an elven polity once stood. They proudly live a nomadic lifestyle away from the urban settlements of their city elf counterparts in an attempt to preserve and reclaim their cultural heritage, which was mostly wiped out millennia ago when the ancient elven empire of Elvhenan, which spanned most of Thedas, mysteriously collapsed. Dwarven society is organized around a rigid caste system and a form of ancestor worship. While the dwarves cannot wield magic themselves, their economic activity primarily revolves around the mining of lyrium, a mineral substance which powers the practice of magic, which they trade with the surface world. Some dwarves live on the surface, voluntarily or otherwise: they are considered "casteless" and are usually unwelcome within dwarven societies in the Deep Roads. [1]
A fourth sapient humanoid species unique to the setting are the Qunari, meaning "People of the Qun" in their language. Qunari is an umbrella term used to describe both the race of large horned humanoids who hail from settlements in the far north of mainland Thedas, in particular the island states of Par Vollen and Seheron, as well as converts from other races to their civil religion known as "The Qun", which guides the Qunari's egalitarian yet strictly regimented society. [1] [3] [4] The Qunari government is a totalitarian regime ruled by a triumvirate of leaders who represent the body (military), the soul (priesthood), and the mind (merchants and craftsmen) of their people. [5] Individuals who are born outside of Qunari society are known as Vashoth, while those who abandon the Qun's fundamentalist teachings become known as Tal-Vashoth and are considered traitors or enemies to Qunari society. [1] [5] Renowned as formidable warriors, the Qunari are taller, larger, and more physically robust than other humanoid races in Thedas. [1] They usually have skin of varying metallic colors, white or light-coloured hair, pointed ears, and eyes with colors like violet, red, silver, or yellow. Unlike other races, Qunari do not adorn themselves with tattoos or wear helmets, instead making use of war paint called Vitaar which provides a ceremonial purpose as well as practical benefits. The Qunari are locked in a perpetual conflict with the Tevinter Imperium and often seek to spread their influence throughout Thedas via covert agents or military offensives. [5]
Magic-wielding characters known as mages, are born with an uncommon gift for magic that is identified early in their lives, but they are not always in control of their own power. [1] Mages have access to the Fade, a mysterious parallel dimension that is linked to the physical world and home to various spirit beings. It is a metaphysical realm that is normally accessible only to sapient beings (except for dwarves) when they dream: individuals who have the potential for magic have direct access to the Fade unlike most people, and conversely the Fade's inhabitants have direct access to these aforementioned individuals. [1] A lapse in judgment or vigilance may result in the mage being unwittingly possessed by demonic spirits and utilized as vessels to come out of the Fade. [1] Lyrium is critical to magic use as it enables the channeling of magical energy from the Fade; it is blue in color, though another more dangerous variety known as red lyrium is introduced in Dragon Age II. [1] Some mages practice a form of forbidden magic known as “blood magic”, which is powered by the blood of living beings instead, and sometimes use their power to deliberately summon demons to do their bidding. [1]
Mages in southern Thedas are cloistered into training facilities called Circles of Magi by The Chantry, which teaches that "magic must serve man, not rule over him". The Chantry is a monotheistic religion who worship a personal god known as the Maker and venerates the prophet Andraste, a former slave who led an uprising against the Tevinter Imperium in a movement called an "Exalted March". The Chantry is led by the Divine, who is exclusively female and considered one of the world's most powerful people because of her extensive cultural, diplomatic, political, and spiritual influence over the peoples of Thedas. Mages who live outside the Chantry's control, which includes the Dalish clan chieftains known as Keepers, are considered to be extremely dangerous by many societies in Thedas. The Chantry has a military wing, the Templar Order, who are specially trained to seek out and subdue wayward “apostate“ mages by any means necessary. This is in contrast to a tolerant view of mages in Tevinter society due to influence from the Imperial Chantry denomination, which historically broke away from the mainline Andrastian Chantry and utilize Imperial Templars as law enforcement under the authority of the magisters instead. [1] While Tevinter mages practice their talent for magic without sanction in their homeland, on the other extreme the Qunari physically shackle their mages (termed Saarebas, meaning "dangerous thing,") due to their deep distrust of the practice of magic. [5]
The Darkspawn and their recurring Blights are considered to be the single biggest threat to the civilizations of Thedas. The dwarves in particular have a specialized group of warriors known as the Legion of the Dead to fight the Darkspawn, though their civilization is a shadow of what it once was due to an unceasing war of attrition against the constant threat. [1] The rest of Thedas rely on the Grey Wardens to disperse the Darkspawn hordes whenever they arrive on the surface during a Blight: the Wardens’ goal is to slay the Archdemons, the corrupted Old Gods of the Tevinter Imperium, heralding each Blight. [1] The first game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins, begins on the eve of the fifth Blight. Other major threats faced by the peoples of Thedas include cults and paramilitary groups corrupted by dark magic, such as the Venatori and the Red Templars; demons from the Fade, unleashed as part of a massive inter dimensional invasion during the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition; and dragons, long thought to have been extinct for many centuries, until their reemergence by the end of the Blessed Age caused the then-ruling Divine to name the next Age as the Dragon Age, the century in which the vast majority of the Dragon Age series takes place. [1]
2009 | Dragon Age |
---|---|
2010 | Dragon Age Awakening |
2011 | Dragon Age II |
2012 | |
2013 | Heroes of Dragon Age |
2014 | Dragon Age: Inquisition |
2015–2023 | |
2024 | Dragon Age: The Veilguard |
Year | Title | Developer | Platform(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Dragon Age: Origins 1 | BioWare | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OS X |
2009 | Dragon Age Journeys2 | EA2D, BioWare | Web browser |
2010 | Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3 | BioWare | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OS X |
2011 | Dragon Age II 4 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
Dragon Age Legends 5 | EA2D, BioWare | Facebook Platform, Google+, Web browser | |
2013 | Heroes of Dragon Age | EA Capital Games | iOS, Android |
2014 | Dragon Age: The Last Court6 | Failbetter Games | Web browser |
Dragon Age: Inquisition | BioWare | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
2024 | Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | |
Notes:
|
Dragon Age: Origins is the first game in the series, and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and for Mac OS X in December 2009. Set in the kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil unrest, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against monsters known as the Darkspawn, and is tasked with defeating the Archdemon that commands them and ending their invasion. BioWare described Origins as a spiritual successor to their previous Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights franchises. Origins has received critical and public praise since its release, for its characters, story, voice acting, and traditional RPG combat and gameplay.
Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is the expansion for the role-playing video game Dragon Age: Origins . Origins – Awakening adds a new campaign that takes place during the aftermath of Dragon Age: Origins. It was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 16, 2010, in North America, March 18 in Europe, and March 19 in the United Kingdom, [10] and for the Mac OS X on August 31, 2010. It was later bundled with Origins and various DLC packs as Dragon Age: Origins – Ultimate Edition, released on October 26, 2010.
Dragon Age II is the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe on March 8, 2011 and March 11, 2011, respectively. BioWare's Edmonton office began development of Dragon Age II during the production of Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening. The game puts players in the role of Hawke, a human mage, rogue, or warrior who arrives in Kirkwall, a city state in the Free Marches as a lowly refugee. Hawke becomes the Champion of Kirkwall over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict. Hawke is supported by several companions, most of whom play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay, and will either recognize Hawke as a friend or a rival depending on players' decisions and dialogue.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is the sequel to Dragon Age II, released worldwide in November 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game puts the players in the role of the Inquisitor, a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, dwarven or Qunari background, who survived a cataclysmic event which led to the creation of a mysterious tear in the sky called the "Breach", which is unleashing dangerous demons upon the world. The Inquisitor is viewed by some as the 'chosen one', as they have a 'Mark' on their hand capable of closing the Breach, and eventually becomes the leader of the titular Inquisition in an attempt to stop Corypheus, an ancient Darkspawn, who opened the Breach in the course of his attempt to conquer Thedas and achieve godhood. Dragon Age: Inquisition received critical acclaim since its release, with critics praising its story, voice acting, soundtrack, detailed environments, and engaging combat. It was awarded over 150 year-end accolades and nominated for more, including Game of the Year and Best Role-playing awards from several gaming publications.
The fourth Dragon Age game began development in 2015 under the codename "Joplin", however, development for "Joplin" was cancelled in October 2017. The project was rebooted in 2018 under the codename "Morrison". [11] [12] In June 2022, the game's title was announced as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf [13] [14] and in June 2024, the game was retitled Dragon Age: The Veilguard. [15]
Dragon Age Journeys was a 2009 Flash-based browser game developed by EA2D. A tie-in to Dragon Age: Origins, players could unlock achievements in the game, which would unlock content in Origins. Its content was intended to be spread over three chapters. The first chapter of the game, The Deep Roads, was released as a free download in October 2009. [16] The second and third chapters were never released as the project was ultimately cancelled.
Dragon Age Legends was a 2011 Flash game developed by EA2D for the Facebook Platform and Google+. Legends incorporated elements of strategy and tactical role-playing games in its gameplay. It served as a tie-in to Dragon Age II by unlocking additional content for players, and is also set in the Free Marches. A "remixed" version of Legends titled Dragon Age: Legends: Remix 01 which featured hack and slash gameplay was released in May 2011 and hosted by IGN. The servers for Legends was deactivated on June 18, 2012, although a modified offline version was released shortly afterwards as a free download. [17]
In 2013, EA released Heroes of Dragon Age , a free-to-play game for mobile devices. The game is battle-based, featuring digital 3D figurines of characters from the Dragon Age universe. Rather than introducing new lore, the game is based on "what if?" scenarios drawn from plotlines in the existing games. [18] The sunset for Heroes of Dragon age was announced in November 2022 with the servers slated to go down on January 23, 2024.
Dragon Age: The Last Court was a free-to-play browser game released in November 2014, with its gameplay focused on drawing cards and managing resources. Set between the events of Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, players would assume the role of the Marquis of Serault, a marquisate located on the western edge of Orlais. Previously accessible from the online platform Dragon Age Keep, [19] The Last Court was taken offline by November 17, 2020, although fans led a project to preserve its contents prior to the due date. [20]
The Dragon Age franchise includes various types of media adaptations and merchandise outside of the video games. Its setting has been used by a variety of other media, including novels, comics, graphic novels, and licensed products such as a tabletop role-playing game, action figures, and statues.
There are currently six novels set in the Dragon Age universe:
The Dragon Age video game series has featured varied gameplay mechanics; Origins was considered to be a traditional RPG, while subsequent entries are story-driven action role-playing games. [45] The player assumes control of one primary character as the protagonist of the story of each main series game [46] and customizes them based on gender, race (human only in Dragon Age II), physical appearance, and one of three character classes (warrior, rogue, and mage), with one or two specializations centered around the three class archetypes being made available to the player later in each game. This establishes a skill tree that the player can advance through killing enemies or completing quests (and thereby gaining experience points) until a preset value is met, whereupon they level up. Players usually conduct each main series game from a third-person perspective; control is done through a user interface that allows a player to move characters and give them actions to undertake, review information on on-going quests and the statistics of characters in their party, manage their inventories, and organize the formation of the party. Each game generally follows a main story pathway with points of branching narratives and multiple side missions, allowing the player to proceed through the game as they desire. Secondary characters could be recruited as permanent or temporary companions by the player-controlled character over the course of the plot in each game. The player has the option to bring up to three of their companions with them whenever their traverse the game setting, and the player will have some degree of control over these companions, usually for combat sequences.
Origins present the player character almost as a blank canvas, whose visage, hairstyle, voice, race, first name, origin, gender, and class are chosen by the player. In the PC version, the point of view can be shifted from the third person view to a top-down isometric view, where friendly and hostile units are labelled with different colours to distinguish them. [47] A party companion's approval or disapproval of the player character is represented by a scaling slider which appears on the specific character's individual screen. A companion character's scaling slider can be affected by dialogue choices, by the player character's actions, or by the giving of gift items which could be found throughout the game's narrative. The player character's standing on the scaling slider determines whether certain dialogue options are available; choosing the right dialogue options may potentially lead to higher approval, and unlock quests which the player character otherwise have no opportunity to perform. [48] In lieu of a one-off loyalty check implemented in certain RPG games, the Warden's companions always take note of the decisions the player character makes, with their approval rising and falling in response to each decision. High approval may lead to a potential romance, while low approval might result in a companion leaving or even turning on the Warden and dying as a result.
In Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, the player engages in dialogue trees with non-player characters through story encounters and missions to learn information and progress the story. This is presented through what BioWare called a Dialogue Wheel, with the fully voice acted player-character reply options shown as choices extending radially outward from a circle at the bottom of the screen. Most of these choices are simple questions and responses, but in some dialogues, they offer additional choices that either influence how the game plays out from there, or are as a result from those previous choices. In Dragon Age II, the camera is locked in a third person perspective; in Inquisition, the player may access Tactical View, which pauses the game and shifts the camera to a top-down isometric view similar to Origins, allowing players to assign locations and orders to the party members and then resume the game to see their decisions play out. [49]
Dragon Age Keep, launched in October 2014, is an online platform that allows players to save their in-game choices in a "world state." If their gaming platform is connected to the internet, then a player's major decisions will be saved and can be imported into new games. This affects the events and characters that are present in-game, most noticeably so in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Dragon Age Keep incorporates decisions made in prior DLCs as well as the major games. The platform also allows for players to customize their world states by choosing the preferred outcome for any given choice, and unlock various in-game items for Origins and Dragon Age II which were previously only available through limited promotional opportunities such as pre-order bonuses, platform exclusives and as rewards from participation in special events.
Throughout the series, certain characters could enter into a romantic relationship with the player character: these included both hetero- and homosexual relationships as well as inter-species romances. This requires certain pre-requisite conditions such as gender and race being met, and possibly securing a high approval rating of the companion through the player character's actions and/or words. [50] Successfully romancing a character would typically lead to scenes leading up to a sexual encounter though otherwise not showing anything inappropriate for the game's rating. The romance subplots in the series often take the form of side missions; they are not designed to be one-size-fits-all, and are entirely optional content. [51]
Canadian video game developer David Gaider came up with most of the background lore for the franchise's setting and served as its lead writer until 2015. The name ”Thedas” originated as shorthand for “The Dragon Age Setting”. [1] Thedas is a world inspired by European folklore and the romances of medieval Europe, with real world analogues used as the basis of some in-universe elements. [52] For example, the nations of Ferelden and Orlais are based on medieval England and Renaissance-era France respectively. [1] The Qunari’s role within the setting is comparable to that of the historical Viking expansion. [1] Gaider seeded numerous element of lore all across Thedas during the developmental cycle for Origins, without any expectation that the material he wrote would ultimately be utilized for the final product. This left room for possible exploration of story elements or locations unused in Origins as the basis for tie-in material in other media, such as his debut novel Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne as well as subsequent sequels to Origin. [53]
Although Dragon Age has been described as a dark fantasy setting, [52] the series utilizes many common tropes in fantasy fiction, such as quests, the presence of magic as well as elves and dwarves in its narrative, and an overarching conflict between heroes and the forces of evil. [1] Dragon Age also takes inspiration from A Song of Ice and Fire , a fantasy novel series by George R. R. Martin, particularly in the depiction of a morally ambiguous world where characters are often embroiled in no-win scenarios. [54] [55] [ dubious – discuss ] An act of betrayal by the Ferelden lord Teryn Loghain Mac Tir which led to the disastrous outcome of the Battle of Ostagar as well as his final fate are thematically reminiscent of the treacherous political machinations depicted in A Song of Ice and Fire. [54] The Grey Wardens’ concept of a sworn brotherhood with its grim outlook and constant vigilance in anticipation of the threat of a monstrous invasion are particularly similar to that of the Night's Watch organization. [1]
The art style for the series underwent a drastic overhaul under the leadership of art director Matt Goldman beginning with Dragon Age II, as the original art style for Origins was deemed to be "generic". [56] The Darkspawn in particular were redesigned after the developers decided to portray them "like a complete and cohesive group" with an emphasis on their original concept as severely sickened creatures, [57] whereas they have a more "hodgepodge appearance" in Origins which resembled J.R.R. Tolkien's orcs. [58] The Qunari were initially presented in Origins as hornless, though the developers had originally intended for them to have horns, and as a result the Qunari's physical appearance underwent a redesign. [59] Subsequent instalments in the franchise retroactively explained that most Qunari in fact have horns, and that hornlessness is a rare genetic variation found in certain individuals. [59] [1]
Game | Metacritic |
---|---|
Dragon Age: Origins | (PC) 91 [60] (PS3) 87 [61] (X360) 86 [62] |
Dragon Age II | (PC) 82 [63] (PS3) 82 [64] (X360) 79 [65] |
Dragon Age: Inquisition | (PC) 85 [66] (PS4) 89 [67] (XONE) 85 [68] |
The main series Dragon Age games have mostly been positively received. Dragon Age: Origins in particular is widely considered to be among the best video games of all time. Roberts consider Origins to be "an exhaustingly detailed RPG, with intricate combat and extensive ways to customise your party behind the scene", though "complex storytelling and characters" only occur in "infrequent flashes". He noted that Origins "did so much heavy lifting for building the world of Dragon Age that subsequent games have managed to find more interesting angles on its world." [69] Richard Cobbett from Eurogamer described Origins as "a half-way house between the hardcore RPGs of old and a more modern style that was taking over, with an emphasis on the former". Its expansion pack, Origins - Awakening is also well received with both critics and fans across all release platforms. [70] [71] [72]
Dragon Age II was released to generally favorable reviews from video game media outlets, but received a divisive reception from players. [73] Most of their criticism were directed at the game's wave-based enemies, excessively reused environments, and the lack of origin choices. [74] Several critics praised the game's faster-paced combat and the companions featured in the game, while the game's dialogue system and storytelling received mixed responses, and its use of a single setting with recycled assets and environments attracted some criticism.
Dragon Age: Inquisition garnered numerous game of the year awards and nominations from gaming publications for the year 2014. Roberts felt that Inquisition’s "side quest-heavy open-worlds" went in a very distant direction from where the series began. [69]
Sam Roberts from Gamesradar opined that unlike the Mass Effect video game series with its second entry, BioWare has yet to make "a truly great Dragon Age game" and that each main series game is flawed in some way. He observed that "BioWare keeps reinventing the mould, carrying across certain elements of the combat and remaining faithful to the fiction, but throwing a lot of stuff out. It’s an approach that may eventually lead to a world-beating RPG". [69]
Dragon Age: Origins topped Steam's sales chart on November 10, 2009. The Digital Deluxe version of the game was ranked first place, with the standard edition ranked second. [75] The Xbox 360 version of the game was the ninth-best-selling game in the US according to the NPD Group, selling approximately 362,100 copies. [76] According to John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, the company is very satisfied with the sales of Origins; more than 1 million DLC packs for the game were sold before the end of 2009. [77] In February 2010, Electronic Arts announced that more than 3.2 million copies of the game had been sold. [78]
Dragon Age II sold more than one million copies in less than two weeks following its launch on March 8, 2011, a faster sales pace than its predecessor when it was released in 2009. [79] By May 2011, it has sold over two million copies. [80]
Dragon Age: Inquisition is the most successful video game launch in BioWare's history based on units sold. [81] Inquisition debuted at No. 5 in UK in its first launch week. According to retail monitor Chart-Track, it had sold almost the exact number of launch week copies as 2011's Dragon Age II . [82] This does not take into account direct digital download sales however, [83] which have been noted to be a "significant percentage of sales" by BioWare [84] and thus the true number of sales is higher.
Origins marked the point at which western RPGs properly moved into the spotlight, according to Cobbett. He stated that the success of Origins proved that "a hardcore, older-fashioned game could still find a devoted audience", and that it "established a new baseline for the genre in much the same way as the original Baldur's Gate back in 1998". [85] Van Allen of US Gamer claimed that Bioware's work in character-driven AAA RPG Games has inspired "imitators in games like GreedFall ", with gameplay that feels like the continuation of many concepts from Dragon Age. [86]
The characters of the series, particularly the party companions, have received acclaim; they have often been compared to characters from the Mass Effect series in critic and reader lists and are considered some of the most memorable characters in video game history. [87] [88] [89] [90] [91]
Dragon Age: Origins is a 2009 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise. Set in the fictional kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil strife, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against monstrous forces known as "Darkspawn", and is tasked with defeating the Archdemon that commands them and ending their invasion. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective. Throughout the game, players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay.
Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne is a fantasy novel written by David Gaider, released in March 2009. It is Gaider's first novel, as well as the first novel set in Thedas, the setting of BioWare's Dragon Age role-playing video game franchise. The Stolen Throne serves as a prequel to the BioWare role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. Set thirty years before the events of Origins, this novel tells the backstory of characters important to the game, such as Loghain Mac Tir, as well as how the kingdom of Ferelden, the setting of Origins, achieved independence from the neighboring nation of Orlais.
Dragon Age: Origins is a story-driven role-playing game set in a world called Thedas, where the player usually assumes control of one primary character as the protagonist of the story. Throughout the course of the story, player characters in Origins are continually presented with choices for how to deal with major game events, and any decisions made usually influence the overarching narrative. While the player does retain control over forks in the narrative, the overarching narrative in each game follows a specified path, and the player's influence is confined to certain pre-ordained events in the game rather than the entire narrative itself.
Dragon Age II is a 2011 action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts (EA). It is the second major game in the Dragon Age series and the successor to Dragon Age: Origins (2009). Set in the world of Thedas, players assume the role of Hawke, a human mage, rogue, or warrior who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee, and becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict. In the game, players explore and engage in combat from a third-person perspective. Players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay. Depending on players' decisions and dialogue, a companion will either recognize Hawke as a friend or a rival.
Hawke is a character from BioWare's Dragon Age media franchise, first appearing as the player character of the 2011 video game Dragon Age II. Hawke is the eldest child of the human Hawke family and hails from the nation of Ferelden in the world of Thedas, the setting of the Dragon Age franchise. The opening sequence of Dragon Age II follows Hawke's family as they flee northwards to the Free Marches region as refugees from the invading Darkspawn hordes. Settling down in the city-state of Kirkwall soon after arrival, Hawke emerges as a prominent figure within the span of a decade, rising in power and influence to become the "Champion of Kirkwall". Hawke is a pivotal figure behind the origins of the worldwide conflict between the setting's magicians and their custodians the Templar Order, and also plays an important role during a subsequent extradimensional invasion of Thedas by demonic beings as depicted in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Alistair is a fictional character in Dragon Age, a role-playing video game series created by Canadian video game developer BioWare. He is introduced as one of many companions that can join the party of the player character in Dragon Age: Origins. Alistair is a Grey Warden who fought alongside The Warden against the Darkspawn to end the Fifth Blight. Alistair is eventually revealed to be the illegitimate child of King Maric, making him an heir to the throne of Ferelden. Depending on the player character's choices during the events of Dragon Age: Origins, Alistair may be installed as king of Ferelden, remain as a Grey Warden, become a wandering drunk, or be executed by Queen Anora.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third main video game in BioWare's Dragon Age series, is the most successful video game launch in BioWare history based on units sold. The game features a large number of characters who are members or potential allies of the organization known as the Inquisition; its formation was sanctioned by Divine Justinia V of the Andrastrian Chantry, the dominant religious organization in the Dragon Age series, prior to the events of Inquisition. The organization's primary purpose is to restore order to the continent of Thedas, the setting of Inquisition, where civil unrest and civil wars have already plunged entire nations and societies across the known world into chaos. A supernatural calamity in the beginning of Inquisition led to the deaths of the Divine and the majority of the Chantry leadership, and the subsequent opening of a mysterious metaphysical tear in the sky called the "Breach", which is unleashing dangerous demons upon the world and sends Thedas deeper into crisis.
Leliana is a fictional character from BioWare's Dragon Age media franchise, first appearing as a party member in the 2009 role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. A bard who is originally from the nation of Orlais, she came to Ferelden prior to the events of the Dragon Age series. Following the events of Leliana's Song, a DLC pack which serves as a prequel to the base game, she encounters the surviving Grey Wardens of Ferelden in the town of Lothering, and accompanies them to stop the monstrous Darkspawn from overrunning the world of Thedas. Leliana has appeared as a supporting character in subsequent video game sequels to Origins as well as other expanded media. She is voiced by French actress Corinne Kempa.
The Darkspawn are a fictional collective of humanoid monsters who serve as recurring antagonists of the Dragon Age video game media franchise, developed by BioWare and owned by Electronic Arts. Within the series, they mostly dwell in the subterranean realms beneath the world of Thedas, the setting of the Dragon Age series. The Darkspawn are depicted as malevolent and ugly creatures who are capable of infecting other beings with a supernatural disease known as the "Taint", which twist its victims into monstrous creatures. The supposed origins of the Darkspawn is presented in Dragon Age: Origins as a religious creation myth by the Chantry, the dominant religious organization of Thedas. The Darkspawn are portrayed as an overarching threat to the world of Thedas, as they periodically rise to the surface as a unified force led by an Archdemon, the corrupted form of ancient draconic beings once worshipped as deities by human civilizations in antiquity, killing indiscriminately and corrupting anything they encounter. The Darkspawn hordes are primarily opposed by the dwarven civilization of Thedas as well as the Grey Wardens, a sworn brotherhood of warriors formed to stop the rampaging hordes of monsters from overrunning the surface world by any necessary means.
Morrigan is a fictional character from BioWare's Dragon Age franchise, first appearing as a party member in Dragon Age: Origins. She is a shapeshifting Witch of the Wilds, one of several sorceresses whose legends originate in the Korcari Wilds region of the kingdom of Ferelden, the setting of Origins. Morrigan leaves her home to accompany the protagonist of Origins, the would-be Hero of Ferelden, at the request of her mother Flemeth to stop the monstrous Darkspawn from overrunning the world of Thedas. Morrigan also appears in Dragon Age: Inquisition as a supporting character. She is voiced by Claudia Black.
Dorian Pavus is a fictional character in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The character made his debut in the 2014 video game Dragon Age: Inquisition, where he serves as a companion and party member. Within the series, he is a human mage from a proud noble bloodline of the Tevinter Imperium, a realm governed by a powerful magic-using oligarchy situated in the northern region of Thedas, the continent in which the Dragon Age series is set in. A self-assured man born with magical virtuosity, he is nonetheless considered a pariah as his morals and ideals do not line up with the rest of his family nor the rest of the general populace living in Tevinter. Though he rejects the decadence and corruption which is prevalent throughout Tevinter society, he loves his homeland and wants his vision of a Tevinter where prejudices don't run rampant realized. Seeking to halt what he perceives as the moral decay of his countrymen and the fundamentalist zealotry of his former mentor, he decides to join the Inquisition, believing he could not return without first eliminating the forces corrupting his homeland.
Solas is a character in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. He first appears in the 2014 video game Dragon Age: Inquisition, where he serves as a party member. He presents himself as an elven outlaw mage who operates outside of the edicts of the Chantry, the dominant religious organization in Thedas, the world setting of Dragon Age. Solas joins the Inquisition and serves as an expert on the Fade, a metaphysical realm that is tied to Thedas which is normally accessible only through dreaming, and its denizens. His knowledge and expertise prove instrumental in aiding the Inquisition's struggle to close the Breach, a massive dimensional tear in the sky that allows multitudes of demonic spirits to pass through into the physical world through dimensional rifts. A post-credit scene of Inquisition reveals his true identity as Fen'Harel. Trespasser, the final DLC pack released for Inquisition, provides further insight into his backstory and motives, as well as his involvement in the current world state of Thedas.
Loghain Mac Tir is a fictional character from BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. He hails from the kingdom of Ferelden, a realm in the world of Thedas, where the Dragon Age series is set. Loghain first appears in the 2009 novel The Stolen Throne as one of its main characters alongside his friend, King Maric Theirin. The novel's story is set during their youth, where Loghain served as Maric's right hand during Ferelden's war against the Orlesian Empire. He would next appear in The Calling, eleven years after King Maric and his companions ventured into the Deep Roads as described in The Stolen Throne, and eight years after the rebellion led by Prince Maric managed to liberate Ferelden from the Orlesians.
Anders is a fictional character in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The character made his debut in Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening as a human mage pursued by members of the Templar Order, the military arm of the Chantry, which is the dominant religious organization in the Dragon Age series. He joins the player character as a party member. He appears again as a companion character in 2011's Dragon Age II.
Downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins, a role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, was announced prior to the game's release in late 2009 along with a commitment from BioWare to support two years of content. Up to seven major content packs were released: The Stone Prisoner, Warden's Keep, Return to Ostagar, The Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana's Song, The Golems of Amgarrak, and Witch Hunt. The downloadable content (DLC) packs were distributed via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and BioWare's website for the PC platform.
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights is an anthology of short stories set in Thedas, the universe of the Dragon Age media franchise. The collection is edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman and Christopher Morgan, and comprises a selection of fifteen stories written by nine BioWare staff writers about various characters from the Dragon Age series. Tevinter Nights was released on March 10, 2020 in paperback and e-book format.
Dragon Age II, the second main video game in BioWare's Dragon Age series, features an ensemble cast of characters. Several returning characters from its antecedent Dragon Age: Origins may appear in a major or minor capacity, including Flemeth, Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Alistair, Zevran, Leliana, Marethari, Bodahn and Sandal Feddic.
Dragon Age: Inquisition – Trespasser is a downloadable content (DLC) pack developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for the 2014 action role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition. It was released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows through Electronic Arts' digital distribution platform Origin, on September 8, 2015. The pack follows members of the Inquisition as they uncover a conspiracy to invade southern Thedas, while at the same time being confronted over their relevancy as an organization two years after a cataclysmic series of events which unfolded in Inquisition. As the Inquisition works to undermine a secret invasion by the Qunari, its leadership will eventually have to decide whether the organization itself should continue to exist.
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove is a six-issue heroic fantasy comic book limited series set in the Dragon Age universe. The first in a series of Dragon Age visual media to be published by Dark Horse Comics, it was originally an exclusive digital release between February and May 2012. The series was primarily written by David Gaider, with Alexander Freed as scriptwriter and artwork by Chad Hardin.